WMR previously reported that Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a close ally of President Barack Obama and his chief of staff, former Representative Rahm Emanuel, who, like Schakowsky, represented a Chicago district, was sexually blackmailed by a lesbian prostitute who worked for the American Turkish Council (ATC).

The ATC and its affiliated Turkish government lobbying organizations were cited by former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds in her deposition in an Ohio Election Commission complaint filed by Representative Jean Schmidt (R-OH) against her 2008 opponent, David Krikorian, over statements by Krikorian that Schmidt received financial support from the Turkish lobby in the United States. Edmonds was subpoenaed for a deposition in the case in support of Krikorian’s allegations that the Turkish Lobby has wielded tremendous influence over U.S. policymakers like Schmidt in Congress. After raising objections to Edmonds’s testimony, pursuant to a state secret gag order imposed by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, neither the Justice Department nor the FBI moved to block Edmonds’s statements at her deposition on August 8 in Washington, DC.

WMR has received additional confirmation from a high-level congressional source that Schakowsky regularly engaged in a lesbian sexual tryst at a Washington, DC, townhouse with a female employee of the ATC. WMR previously reported that law enforcement sources told us that the tryst location was bugged by a Turkish surveillance team that recorded the encounters. The recordings were later used to blackmail Schakowsky into backing away from supporting Armenian genocide resolution initiatives in the House. The surveillance operation was so complex, a second surveillance team monitored the primary team to ensure the bugging devices were properly installed before what the FBI called the “hooking process” commenced.

WMR has obtained from a law enforcement source the first name of the ATC employee but we are withholding it from release to protect the privacy of someone who may have been forced into the prostitution situation by Turkish intelligence officers.

WMR has been informed that another Democratic member of the House was contacted in 2006 by a controversial web journalist who ostensibly represents the “progressive” community and who is a competitor of WMR. The journalist inquired as to whether the member had heard anything about Schakowsky having a lesbian affair with a possible foreign intelligence operative. The member replied no but would ask Schakowsky in private about it during their next meeting. The member met with Schakowsky in the Chicago Democrat’s House office and stated: “Jan, you know sometimes that in our position we are often put into the position of doing things that we normally would not do.”

Upon hearing that, Schakowsky appeared to understand what was being intimated and she threw her head back and became very upset. Schakowsky then replied that she did not care about the situation because she was “getting in good with the leadership.” At the time, Dennis Hastert, who was also alleged to have received bribes from the Turkish Lobby, was Speaker of the House.

The latest information received by WMR appears to indicate that Hastert was well aware of the sexual blackmail by Turkish intelligence agents being used against Schakowsky and that he approved of it.

The House member who was contacted by the journalist later told the journalist that Schakowsky had been contacted and that “she seemed to understand the issue and was quite upset about it,” adding she “tried to get in with the leadership.” The journalist, who is supportive of Israeli policies, never revealed Schakowsky’s name but appeared to be involved in a fishing expedition to see what other members of the House knew about Schakowsky’s situation at the time.

The member was appalled at Schakowsky’s explanation because the member considered her to be a “soul mate” on issues ranging from opposition to the Iraq war -- Schakowsky had opposed the Iraq War Resolution -- to private military contractors and U.S. Israeli policy. Schakowsky was a founding member of the Out-of-Iraq Caucus.

The member stated that after the encounter over the “lesbian” issue, Schakowsky “went quiet” on all her signature issues, including her vocal opposition to the role of private military contractors, adding that she became very hawkish in support of Israel.

The member felt that Schakowsky was “set up” by the Turkish Lobby, working in concert with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), to “control her.” The member also said that Schakowsky noticeably “backed off” many issues, including the role of private military companies.

In January 2007, after the Democrats captured the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Schakowsky to be a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence. Currently, Schakowsky is chair of the House Select Committee on Intelligence’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations -- which puts her in a conflict-of-interest in investigating Turkish and related Israeli intelligence penetration of the FBI and State Department, as stated under oath by Edmonds, and the paying of bribes by Turkish government interests to current and former members of Congress.

WMR has also learned from congressional sources that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was aware of Schakowsky’s ”problems” and that he resisted pressure from Obama and Emanuel to appoint Schakowsky to Obama’s vacant Senate seat. When Blagojevich signaled he was going to appoint someone other than Schakowsky to the seat, the joint Israeli and Turkish lobbies, in addition to Emanuel, arranged for U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald to receive a green light to arrest Blagojevich even before any federal corruption indictments were handed down by a grand jury. Blagojevich was later impeached by the Illinois House and removed from office by the state senate. An indictment on multiple counts was later handed down by a federal grand jury.

WMR has previously reported that Fitzgerald dragged his feet on the investigation of the leak by the Bush White House of the covert identities of CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson and her Brewster Jennings & Associates cover firm. Fitzgerald, WMR is told, was trying to limit damaging exposure to the nuclear smuggling operation that involved the Turkish and Israeli Lobbies and Turkish MIT and Israeli Mossad intelligence operations. Mrs. Wilson and her team were apparently narrowing in on the Turks and Israelis in nuclear smuggling around the world. The key U.S. government players in outing Brewster Jennings were named by Edmonds in her deposition.

--Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).

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